


What Are "Surface Thoughts"?

by pallasite



Series: Behind the Gloves [136]
Category: Babylon 5, Babylon 5 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Autobiographical Elements, Backstory, Canon Compliant, Essays, Fix-It, Gen, Heavily Autobiographical, MASH references, Psi Corps, Surface Thought Telepathy, The Psi Corps tag is mine, What do P-ratings mean?, Worldbuilding, telepaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-12 23:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16005404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasite/pseuds/pallasite
Summary: "Do you know what a telepath has to do in order to avoid picking up stray thoughts? We have to kick down our natural abilities. Run rhymes and little songs through our heads, round and round. All that to keep from picking up what you're broadcasting loud enough to be heard halfway down the hall. You're one of those people who rehearses everything, Mr. Garibaldi. You never enter a situation until you've gone over it and over it a hundred times, worked out what you will say, what the other person will say, how you'll respond. It's quite remarkable. And extremely depressing. That little personality quirk must have cost you more than a few relationships. Mundanes want us to fill our heads with noise and babble, so we won't hear what you're shouting at the top of your minds. I didn't need to scan you, Mr. Garibaldi." - Byron Gordon,Paragon of AnimalsWhat are "surface thoughts"? What does it mean to project them (or not)?This essay also provides an in-depth look at what differentiates P4s from P3s (and at the different levels of "surface thought" telepathy).The prologue ofBehind the Glovesishere- please read!





	What Are "Surface Thoughts"?

**Author's Note:**

> What is this series? Where are the acknowledgements, table of contents and universe timelines? See [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10184558/chapters/22620590).
> 
> If you like _Behind the Gloves_ and would like to send me an email, I can be reached at counterintuitive at protonmail dot com. Do you have questions? Would you like to tell me what you like about this project? Email me!
> 
> I also have an [ask blog](https://behind-the-gloves.tumblr.com/), a [writing blog](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pallasite-writes), and a "P3 life" Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/p3-life) with funny anecdotes. :)

_The material in this essay, except where otherwise noted, is equally true in this universe as it is in the Babylon 5 one - I am writing about it in the context of that world and culture, with illustrations from Babylon 5 canon, but I am also writing from a lifetime of personal experience._

_I could even write an essay about surface thought telepathy using M*A*S*H for examples instead, and though the illustration would be different (with a wider range of examples shown on-screen), the discussion of what "surface thought telepathy" means would be the same.  
_

**What are surface thoughts?**

What telepaths refer to as "surface thoughts" is probably what most people just call "thoughts" - present-moment cognitive events.

**Why do we need a term for this?**

We need it for clarity, since there's a lot more that goes on in minds than just "surface thoughts."

It's very difficult to discuss the nuances of mental events in English, because the words aren't always available (so some new terms are needed). The words that do exist are often unhelpful, or even misleadingly vague. For example, we use the same word, "think" also to mean an entirely different concept, _to believe_ , as in, "What do you think about this?"

This essay is about present-moment cognitive events.

You don't have to be telepathic to learn to see the different ways minds can move. Plenty of people learn these skills (in their own minds, at least) through meditation. It's still not something people are used to _discussing_ , however, at least with any specificity beyond vague meditation phrases like "don't follow your thoughts," "gross distractions" or "subtle distractions."

**Give us some examples of surface thoughts, please?**

"Surface thoughts" is a very broad category that includes:

  * Thoughts associated with performing a task (either with internal attention or external attention)
  * Something called to mind by an external sensory stimulus (e.g. you see X and are reminded of Y)
  * "Internal mentation" (to use the neuroscience jargon) - what goes through your head when you're zoning out, e.g. "spontaneous cognition" about recent past events or plans for upcoming tasks
  * Your meaning when you are talking or writing to someone else (including what people, places and things look like, if you think visually)
  * "Internal mentation" that mimics outside communication (e.g. subvocalizing as you read, thinking to yourself as if you are in a conversation with yourself, having a song stuck in your head (mimics singing))
  * Processing what you've read, see or hear for meaning (both the internal processing piece where you literally convert it into meaning, and the external pieces where you think associated thoughts _about_ what you've read, visualize it, etc.)
  * Other "present-moment" cognitive events I haven't thought to list - I had to have left _something_ out, and I'll go back and add it if I remember it.



Surface thoughts could be a single piece ("I mentioned X and he thought of Y") or a web of associations (e.g. when someone asks for the meaning of a word, surface thoughts include the context in which he or she saw the word).

Surface thoughts do not include:

  * Actual physical sensations (though it does include thinking about being hungry, having to use the bathroom, etc., and planning to get food, have a smoke, go to the toilet, etc.). These aren't impossible to access telepathically, but that's a different process.
  * Non-activated memories (stuff you know, but you're not thinking about it). Again, this isn't impossible to access telepathically, it's just different. [See my essay on deep scans.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15015632)
  * States such as "beliefs" - what someone thinks in the present moment can indicate what they believe to be true (and untrue), but beliefs themselves are not "thoughts."



**What about emotions?**

Emotions are on the surface, but they work a little differently from thoughts, so they're a bit outside the scope of this essay. The short answer is that _in general_ , emotional vibrations are also on the surface.

While all surface thought telepaths can also pick up on emotional vibrations, most people who can pick up on emotional vibrations aren't also surface thought telepaths.

**Are people always thinking?**

People who are conscious are always thinking. The natural, untrained state of minds is to be in constant motion. The minds of trained meditators move, too, just differently.

**Do mid-range scans involve surface thoughts or not?**

Material that would be visible in a so-called ["mid-range" or "medium" scan](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15011084) is not referred to as "surface thoughts."

(To use the example from the linked essay, the blue Mazda is the surface thought, and the person's first car, say, a red Toyota, is _not_ a surface thought. In the strictest sense of the word "surface," in that moment, the person who is talking isn't thinking about the red Toyota. They're asked what color their car is, and they say (and think) "blue." The present-moment associational web contains more information about that car - what it looks like, the make and model, etc. Information about Bob's first car is "behind" that, not directly "on the surface.")

In the B5-'verse, the terms are defined from the perspective of normals more than from the perspective of telepaths, and since scanning for information of this type has physical effects on the person being scanned, it's not thought of as being "surface thoughts." But this is a bit universe-specific - more realistically, very strong telepaths may still see this range of information as close enough to the surface to count as a "surface thought" because it takes so little effort for them to see (it's _so close_ to the surface from their point of view). To weaker telepaths, however, in either world, such information is clearly _not_ a surface-thought.

**Are there categories of surface thoughts?**

Yes. There are two broad categories of "surface thoughts": those that are _projected_ , and those that are _not projected_.

You probably don't know that you "project" - it's very hard for anyone to feel him/herself doing this (even among telepaths). It happens all the time, though, and can be trained (e.g. certain forms of theatrical training are good for this).

I am writing this essay from the _telepath's perspective_ \- certain kinds of present-moment mental events "point outwards," and others "point inwards."

Byron above refers to "projection" or "pointing outwards" as "broadcasting." This is the same thing. I personally don't favor "technology" metaphors for telepathy - telepathy doesn't work  _at all_ like a radio - but that's my preference. It means the same thing, just as someone in the B5 universe would say "scanning" and someone here might say "digging" to refer to the same action.

"Projected" surface thoughts include:

  * Tasks or activities that stimulate "external attention" (interaction with the outside world)
  * Actual or mimicked communication with self or others



Non-projected surface thoughts include:

  * Quietly thinking something to yourself without acting on it or telling anyone else
  * "Spontaneous cognition" when you're sitting and not engaging with the world (e.g. the chatter that comes to mind when you're learning to meditate)
  * "Forced" contexts (e.g. someone concentrating hard on a single word, in the hope that they can project it to a telepath - this does not mimic actual, natural communication from a mental perspective)
  * Surface thoughts that would be projected, but someone's learned not to project them



So in the example above, as Byron explicitly points out, he didn't have to scan Garibaldi to know what he was thinking, because Garibaldi _projects everything_ \- and specifically, he does this because of the manner in which he thinks, namely, as if he is constantly in simulated conversation with himself or imagined future conversation partners with whom he is rehearsing. That Garibaldi personally thinks in such a loud manner also comes up in the books. And we see it in _Mind War_ , when he doesn't want to mouth off at Bester aloud - he's in front of others, and knows it would be inappropriate to say aloud - but of course he projects it anyway, complete with images, and is just as much of a snot to Bester as he would have been aloud (prompting Bester's reply: "Anatomically impossible, Mr. Garibaldi, but you're welcome to try. Any time, anywhere.").

When people want to express something, but can't because it's socially inappropriate or because of another obstacle (a language barrier, having just bitten into something very hot or cold, etc.), it actually causes them to project _much louder_. So what happens in that moment isn't "Bester read Garibaldi's mind," as in scanning him, but Garibaldi didn't want to say it aloud, so he _shouted it_ mentally. Splashed it in Bester's face, so to speak.

Again, "no need to scan you" - you threw it at me. Even a P3 would see that very loudly.

**Why are we dividing surface thoughts up in this way, as projected and not projected?**

We divide it up this way because these two broad categories of surface thoughts are differently visible.

**Why?**

I don't know - I'm just speaking from my personal experience and that of others who are telepathic.

**So why does this matter?**

**Projected surface thoughts do not require any "active" telepathic or skill to see.** A telepath literally has to do _nothing_ to see this material, as Byron points out in that speech. (That generally doesn't stop obnoxious normals from being offended about it anyway, but that's on them. They're basically being offended that telepaths _exist_.)

P3s can see these kinds of surface thoughts, but may be unable to see the other kind. P3s, as distinguished from P4s, are **_passive surface thought telepaths_**. They may possess no "active" telepathic skills at all (such as the ability to "scan" someone at any depth). They are not P2s because awareness of others' mental events is a pervasive part of their daily consciousness, but if something isn't projected, they can't go find it.

 **Non-projected surface thoughts are a little harder to see.** They are still surface thoughts, but require a bit of active "digging" to see. To be technical about it, one could call this a "light scan," but in practice, as I've said elsewhere, "light scan" in that world usually just refers to paying attention. (And normals know so little about telepathy, odds are, they would never make these distinctions anyway.) Someone _could_ use the term "light scan" in this technical sense, but all the examples I've seen in canon refer to being aware of projected surface thoughts (which isn't "scanning" at all).

P4s are _**active surface thought telepaths**_. They can see non-projected surface thoughts as well as projected ones, because they have some "active" telepathic skill. On the high-end of P4, they can also do so-called "mid-range" scans for contextually related information that is not immediately at the "surface." (P-ratings are ranges, remember.) P4s can see _some_ of the underlying "mental machinery" behind and underneath thought patterns, not just what's projected out.

**Examples?**

_Behind the Gloves_ is filled with examples of passive surface thought telepathy (too many for me to list them all here), many based on real-life events, because as they say... write what you know, right?

As just one example, from the [first chapter in Andy's story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10227857/chapters/22694822), Andy is aware of what Geoff is reading in the book not just Andy is a telepath, but because Geoff reads by subvocalizing everything (and probably does so in an especially projective way), which means Andy didn't have to do anything at all to be aware of it. It was just there.

I've written Andy to be a P6, but that's not relevant in this scene, just that as he's developing telepathy, the first things he notices are "projected" surface thoughts.

**What if Geoff didn't read that way? Not everyone reads that way.**

As an illustration, let's say someone who is P4 or up wants to know what another person is reading.

If the reader is "projecting," then the telepath will just have to pay attention. (A P3 on the other hand might find his or her ability to pick up on "projected" thoughts in this context more sporadic - it may work better with some people than with others, and it also matters if the telepath is a higher or lower end P3. I'm speaking in generalities here, where YMMV.)

A P4 would see it just fine.

But if the reader isn't projecting (say, because they were taught to read in a way that goes directly from visual input to meaning without triggering the "self-communication" subvocalization pathway (that projects outward)), then the telepath would have to dig a bit deeper to the _processing_ level in order to see what they're reading about - to the level on which the person is processing the input and making sense of it.

 

**Visual readers (one way):**

                                                 Visual text ---> Processing

 

**Readers who subvocalize (two way):**

                                                 Visual text ---> Processing

          Projected thoughts <\--- Subvocalizing ---> Processing

 

**Readers who _only_ subvocalize (two way):**

          Projected thoughts <\--- Subvocalizing ---> Processing

 

(A comedic take on passive surface thought telepathy - with what's being written in a letter (and hence communicated/projected) presented to the audience _literally_ as a voice-over - can be found [here](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3o5fr2) (starts at 2:09). There's a similar example [here](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3o5fr2) as well (starts at 9:55). CLICK THIS LINK. ^_^ Radar is not having any of Hawkeye's shit.

It also subverts the "telepathy as voice-over" trope - when anyone writes a letter, they use the same effect - but twice, the writers make it clear that they know that what's being communicated in a letter, like other projected surface thoughts, is visible. Telepathy isn't the voice-over - _the thoughts of normals_ is the voice-over.

Ping me if you'd like for dozens of examples from M*A*S*H of passive surface thought telepathy (both with the laugh track and in the background). Those writers were awesome.)

**Back to Babylon 5...**

Accessing the "processing" level directly is an _active_ skill, outside of the P3 skill range. This is a different creature. We're still talking about surface thoughts, but in this case, the telepath is looking at not just what's "projected out" (maybe nothing), but also to part of the "mental machinery" behind the surface thoughts.

This doesn't have to be a "mid-range scan" - it doesn't mean they're able to see contextually related material that's not in the reader's present-moment thoughts - but at the higher end of P4, they could do this as well, and look for information the reader knows that is associated with the content they're reading.

A P4 would still not be able to [deep scan](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15015632) the reader.

**Other examples?**

In [this story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10767198), Dylan is also using "passive" surface thought telepathy to know what the man is saying outside the Senator's office - people project when they speak (or sign in sign language, or communicate in writing). He's a strong telepath, and the man is agitated and projecting loudly, so Dylan knows what he's saying.

This doesn't mean Dylan knows how to reply in the man's language. ^_^ He would have to scan him to try to figure that out. Maybe it's not impossible, but it's time-consuming, inelegant, and, in that world, both uncomfortable and illegal.

**Concluding thoughts**

A common pitfall in how people "write telepaths" is to omit the ambient surface thoughts ("passive, projected surface thoughts") from the narration - an error that comes from the author him/herself having no experience with such things, and actually writing from his/her _own_ sensory background rather than from the telepath's perspective.

The opposite common pitfall is to overdo it, and try to put telepathic awareness _everywhere_ in the narration, usually as a "metaphor soup."

The canon books commit both kinds of errors. Occasionally they get it right. ^_^

(As an adolescent, I'd make the reverse error, and make characters telepathic even when they weren't supposed to be, simply because I'd forgotten. Did I mention that writing characters who have senses you've never had, or characters who don't have senses you've always had, is REALLY HARD? I have a _bit_ of an advantage, though, if one can call it that, because just almost all material I've ever read is authentically from the point of view of non-telepaths, whereas most people who try to write telepathic characters are making it up whole cloth.)

I hope this essay was clear, and if something's unclear or you need more examples, please drop me a note here. I want this to be as clear as possible, but it's not something I'm familiar with writing about explicitly, and not something you're likely to be familiar with reading about. I didn't set out to write about this subject when I began this project, or even when I began posting, but my knowledge has deepened as I've gone along, and the book is always evolving with me. ^_^

**Author's Note:**

> This essay took a few hours to write, and my whole life to know what to write. ^_^


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